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Saturday, September 26, 2009

It’s official. With almost a quarter-million records already sold outside of the United States, Sean Paul’s fourth studio album, Imperial Blaze, is the dancehall superstar’s biggest international debut to date.
Imperial Blaze has so far found its way in 236,000 CD players, with record breaking sales in the reggae-dancehall hungry country of Japan, being RIAA certified gold in France, and top ten releases in Switzerland, Canada, and even as far as the United Arab Emirates.
Sean Paul expressed delight regarding the progress of the album on the international stage. “It’s a good feeling and I’m happy – very happy that people like the music, and that they’ve been going out and getting the album,” he said.
The Grammy-winning, platinum selling superstar has been on the road promoting his first album in four years. The work has been paying off, as Imperial Blaze has been setting charts on fire since its August release, and he’s particularly proud of the success of the album in Japan.
“Number 1 in Japan is a big achievement for me. I’m especially proud of that, because outside of Jamaica, Japanese people are really the biggest consumers of dancehall music,” he said.
Imperial Blaze is also leaving a fiery path on European charts and turning up the heat on radio stations and in clubs. Apart from being certified gold in France Imperial Blaze debuted at #8 in that country, #7 in the United Arab Emirates, #5 in Canada, #4 in Switzerland, #15 in Belgium, #17 in Austria, and #17 in Germany.
It was also the first ever Jamaican album to debut atop the Billboard Rap Charts. The wholly Jamaican produced project debuted atop the Billboard Reggae Charts, #3 on the Hip Hop/R&B Album charts, #12 on the Billboard 200, #9 on the Digital Albums, and #20 on the European Albums chart.
Sean Paul will be touring the world to support the album with his next stop being in Nigeria next week.